


Nothing Like the Fairy Tales

by useyourtelescope (thedreamygirl)



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Minor Appearances by other characters and ships, Multi, Multiverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-05
Updated: 2016-09-05
Packaged: 2018-08-09 15:25:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7807138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedreamygirl/pseuds/useyourtelescope
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Long-distance relationships have all kinds of constraints, and Kara's has more than most considering she has to use a unique transportation device to even communicate with her boyfriend a few universes away. Still, Kara finds that she enjoys the time they do spend together enough that she doesn’t mind the issues they have to face. – Until the device decides to start toying with her and sends her to the wrong Barry Allen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing Like the Fairy Tales

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Azar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azar/gifts).



> This fic mostly follows canon up to the time Kara and Barry meet, except that James and Lucy didn't break up. Everything else in Supergirl after "World's Finest" is the pretty much the same as canon, while in The Flash let's say the overarching season 2 plot points resolve themselves without really changing the status quo, apart from Wally knowing Barry is the Flash.
> 
> Title is because I've been listening to a lot of the songs from Galavant on repeat (line from "Love is Strange").
> 
> I hope you enjoy this, I had a lot of fun writing it!

It’s not easy creating a device that lets you jump cleanly between Earths without potentially endangering the multiverse – at least, that’s what Cisco is always quick to point out whenever Kara reminds him how often it takes her to the wrong one. That, and, “I didn’t become an engineer to help Barry see his girlfriend.”

(“But he’s happy to do it,” Caitlin adds with a smile, that first time.

“At least if it was to see _my_ girlfriend – not that I have time to try to find one when I’m –” he stops when Caitlin nudges him and pastes a smile back on his face. “I’ll have another look at the device.”)

It’s not faulty, or so Cisco insists, it’s just he couldn’t seem to wire it exactly right to Kara – something to do with the difference between human and Kryptonian frequencies. As Kara prefers to spend most of her time on Barry’s Earth with her boyfriend, and not undergoing experiments, they decide it’s up to her people to help figure out the bug. Though since Barry and Kara are the only people the device lets through, and it's for "romantic purposes", J’onn says he can’t dedicate DEO resources to it, which means it’s just her, Winn and James working on it when their existing CatCo and crime fighting workloads allow.

(Kara understands. Lucy brings over some ice cream and alcohol the second time it takes her to the wrong Earth, and she, Kara and Alex laugh over the idea of going to General Lane to approve funding on a project to better Kara’s dating life.

“We could call it ‘ _Speed_ Dating’,” Alex giggles, backed up by Lucy’s cackle. “Get it, because he’s a speedster.”

“That's it, I’m cutting you off,” Kara shakes her head, grabbing the bottle out of her sister’s hand.)

 

It’s fine, really. It didn’t happen all the time, and Kara thinks she shouldn’t be too upset over a few hiccups when trying to visit her boyfriend who lives a whole universe away. Besides, it’s not like she was trying to make things deliberately harder for herself (her mother’s opinion, when Alex accidentally let the situation slip). Kara had been thrilled to see Barry again, when he started returning using the first few iterations of Cisco’s device, but she hadn’t thought of him as anything other than a friend until after a particularly trying day at both CatCo and the DEO she realized the person she most wanted to talk to about what happened was the one person she couldn’t reach.

It turned out their situation made it easier for Kara to talk about her feelings for once, thanks to the uncertainty of their meetings, and when Barry had revealed he’d felt the same it seemed silly to let a little distance get in the way of their trying to date. A few months later and Kara thinks their relationship isn’t so different from other long-distance couples – well, _very_ long distance couples who are unable to keep in contact while apart, and know their partner is constantly in danger.

(“So, what you’re saying is, we’re like two cops who are dating, but then they both have to go undercover?” Barry suggests, when Kara puts this idea forward.

“Yes!” Kara nods. “That’s it exactly.”

“And they’re on totally different assignments so they can’t cross paths,” Barry continues.

“Maybe their assignments are in states on opposite sides of the country? Or different countries altogether! Although,” Kara realizes with a frown, “that probably doesn’t happen to cops.”

Barry lights up. “So maybe we’re Interpol?”

“Ooh I like it!” Kara is about to continue when a loud snort cuts through her thoughts. She turns her head to see Wally and Linda, whom she’d only just met, staring at them from across the other side of the living room. Linda, the owner of the snort, seems amused but Wally is considering them both carefully.

“You know when Iris told me about you guys, I didn’t get it,” he tells them. “ _Now_ , I get it.”)

 

Still, Kara finds that she enjoys the time they do spend together enough that she doesn’t mind the issues they have to face. – Until the device decides to start toying with her and sends her to the wrong Barry Allen.

“I didn’t even realize it was the wrong Earth at first,” Kara tells Barry, when they’re both alone in Star Labs the next day. “I was just so happy to see you that I didn’t even notice the ring until I reached your table just in time to see you – him – kiss another girl.” Kara pouts.

Barry grimaces. “You saw Barry and Iris on Earth-2, huh?”

“No!” Kara exclaims. “It wasn’t Iris! She was blonde and had glasses and from what I heard of their conversation sounded even more into tech than Winn –“

“Ah, that sounds like Felicity and Barry on Earth-3. They weren’t married when I went there though. What’s going with them these days? They still having problems with their moon?”

“Well I didn’t stop for a chat but I did notice the moon – wait,” Kara stops herself. “If that’s Earth-3, what do you call my Earth?”

Barry grimaces and scratches the back of his neck.

“Barry.”

“5…”

“I’m on Earth-5?! I thought you said my universe was only the second one you’d visited!”

“It is, but when Cisco was first working on the device it sent me through to other Earths before he was able to calibrate it correctly to send me to you,” he finishes, an apologetic twist of his face. “So that was how we numbered them. – Now, didn’t I promise to take you to my favorite doughnut place?”

“Don’t think you can distract me with food,” Kara says, but doesn’t continue her thought when an alarm sounds.

Barry speeds over to the computer and brings up the security feed, before looking back at her with a frown. “Can I distract you with a dangerous metahuman?” 

 

* * *

 

If Kara thought seeing a different Barry was weird, it’s nothing in comparison to the first time she sees another version of herself. Oddly, the first thing she notes is that this Kara lives in Central City. The second thing is the man she’s holding hands with, one who is also familiar to Kara on her Earth.

Adam looks much the same on this Earth, apart from his glasses, which are similar in style to her own. It gives the couple the kind of look Alex would say was too cutesy, but it makes Kara smile a little. She’d wondered a few times if things had been a bit different – if she’d been more _normal_ – whether she and Adam could have had something that resembled a real relationship and now she’s watching them on a date in the park. – Only a version of them, she corrects, but they seem to be fond of each other.

Kara’s tempted to get closer, hear what they’re talking about, but stops herself. This isn’t _her_ life. The Adam of her Earth is a good guy, but things didn’t work out, Kara reminds herself, and she’s got a nice boyfriend of her own waiting for her, albeit on a different universe. They can’t always keep to the schedule they try to set for their visits, but that’s usually because their cities are in danger. Seeing herself with Adam is unexpected, but not strange enough to delay her so Kara merely spares them an unnoticed smile before flying away.

 

* * *

 

The sightings start to happen more often, and the other Barry Allens and Kara Danverses of the multiverse must have far more active romantic lives than she and Barry do, if the number of occasions she catches their doppelgangers with a significant other is anything to go by. Usually, Kara simply tells Barry about it and then they joke about it before continuing their date as planned (metahuman or other threats aside). The first time she decides not to share a sighting with Barry right away Kara discovers she doesn’t have as good a poker face as she thought.

“Is everything okay?” Barry asks. He’s got one hand in hers as they slowly walk to Kara’s apartment after he’s spent the day with her in National City, while the other holds onto his milkshake. They often run or fly to wherever they want to go so they can fit in as much as possible into each visit, but Kara likes this the best, enjoys the feeling of simply lingering in Barry’s company. She’d enjoy it more if she could bring herself to talk to him about what’s on her mind.

“Of course,” she says instead. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

“You’ve just seemed a little off. Did you not have a good time today?”

“I did,” she says immediately. “Today was really nice. I…I tried to visit you yesterday,” Kara admits.

Barry raises his eyebrows in surprise. “You did? I’m so sorry, I’d been promising Joe I’d have a night in with him and Wally for so long, I totally forgot –“

“No, it’s fine,” she shakes her head quickly, ponytail lightly flicking his shoulder. “We hadn’t made plans so there wasn’t anything to forget about.”

“Okay,” Barry says hesitantly, confused once more.

“I ended up in the wrong Earth again,” Kara admits. “But I found you – that Earth’s you with Winn.”

“We know each other in that Earth too?”

Kara nods. “Actually, it looked like you were on a date.”

“For real? – Wait, does that have something to do with you insisting Winn come with us to lunch today?” Barry wonders suddenly, turning to look at her as Kara studiously avoids his eyes.

“Well, you _do_ have a lot in common, and,” she continues quickly when he seems about to interrupt, “it’s not like you and Winn have been able to spend a lot of time together. I’m always hogging you when you’re here and I thought, maybe, it might be nice for you guys to have some one-on-one time.”

“Is that why you kept ‘going to the bathroom’ this afternoon?” Barry asks.  “To leave us alone? Did you _not_ have a bad stomach?”

Kara blushes a little at the memory of how she’d provided that lie to cover for her disappearances, at which Barry had immediately raced to the nearest drugstore and rushed back with some medicine for her. “I’m sorry I lied. But,” Kara adds, “you guys seemed to really click.”

“ _Kara_. Are you jealous?”

Kara ignores the look of delight on Barry’s face. “You did take a lot of interest in him –“

“Yeah, because you’ve told me how he’s been your best friend for ages so I wanted to get to know him better. I thought _that_ was why you invited him, so I…” Barry struggles for the right words, “I wanted to impress him.”

Kara sputters as she holds back a laugh, nearly stopping in her tracks. “ _You_ were trying to impress _Winn_?”

Barry shrugs. “I thought that’s what you’re supposed to do with your girlfriend’s best friend; get to know them, try to get on their good side.”

Kara does laugh at that. “You say that like you’re from another planet learning Earth’s dating culture for the first time.”

Barry smirks. “Well, unfortunately I have it on pretty good authority that I’m not a great boyfriend.”

“Linda?”

“Linda,” Barry nods. “And there’s already a lot of boyfriend things I can’t always do for you because of our…” he casts a glance around at the people walking the street before quietly finishing, “situation. But getting to know your friends and family, the people that care about you? That I can do. That’s what I _want_ to do,” he says so earnestly, squeezing her hand in his, that she melts a little bit.

Kara smiles, thinking of how much she enjoyed hearing stories about Barry from the people that cared about him, even in the brief time she’d spent with them. “I want to do that too. I’m sorry about lunch today, I suppose I…I’ve seen you – or versions of,” she adds at his look, “being a couple with plenty of people by now, I know it shouldn't have made me jealous. It's just never been someone who’s my friend, someone who you didn't know before me..."

"The order I met you in has nothing to do with it," he says gently. "Trust me."

"I do trust you." Barry smiles back down at her and Kara gives into the urge to kiss him, lightly pressing her lips against his. When they've broken apart she tugs on his hand to resume their pace and says, "Now, I may not be a dating expert, but I happen to think you’re a great boyfriend. – And you really don’t have to worry about impressing Winn, you did that as soon as you… _ran_ into my life.”

Barry groans as Kara hides her giggle in his shoulder. “Couldn’t help yourself, huh?”

“Nope.”

“Great. So when do I get to spend some quality one-on-one time with your sister?”

Kara laughs again, and pats Barry’s chest with her free hand. “Oh, you are so not ready for Alex time yet.”

 

* * *

 

Kara decides to put all the other universes out of her mind after that and it works for a few weeks. Thanks to their progress on the device she starts making fewer unscheduled trips to the other Earths and, with the exception of one encounter with another Kara and Lucy that leaves her blushing every time she sees her Lucy Lane for the next week, the remaining trips pass without Kara seeing any of their doppelgangers .

Until one day, when Kara, attempting to surprise Barry after her busy week, lands in another National City and sees herself and James walking down the street together – and they’re definitely _together_.

Kara sucks in a breath as she watches them stroll down the sidewalk and eventually enter the CatCo building, all wide smiles and casual affection, James’ arm slung around her shoulder as that Kara nuzzles into his side. Kara has tried not to keep track of all the partners or dates she’s seen herself or Barry with in the multiverse, even when she’s come across some couples more than once in various Earths but she knows immediately that it’s the first time she’s seen herself with James. The pair share a chaste kiss in between their conversation, but what strikes Kara the most is the way he looks at her when she speaks, the way Kara had wanted the James Olsen on her Earth to look at _her_ for so long.

She thinks her relationship with James is solid now; their friendship means the world to her, but Kara no longer feels more than that towards him, not after James and Lucy worked their issues out and Barry came into her life. Barry is more than a consolation prize; she connects with him for more than just their shared burden of being a superhero, smiles and laughs with him too. She thinks that they could really be something: if only they weren’t defying the laws of physics every single time they met.

Kara feels a kind of longing when she looks at them together – not for the man, but for the simplicity of their relationship, the ease of being someone who really could share the whole day with her without worrying something disastrous was happening back home.

She tries the device again on autopilot, but when it works and she finds herself just outside of the right Star Labs. Kara thinks it might be better if she went home first so she could collect her thoughts a little. She’s prevented from doing that, however, when Barry rushes past her, skidding to a stop when he sees her.

“Hey!” he says with a bright grin on his face, “I was just –“

“Can we talk?”

“Oh,” Barry stops himself from narrowing the gap between them, shoves his hands that had been reaching for her awkwardly into his pockets. “Sure. Do you want to go inside?”

He gestures to the door and they walk in silence through the building until Barry pulls her into a room; empty of people, but full of objects, although nothing to sit down on.

“I don’t know where the chairs got to, I’ll go get you one.”

“It’s fine, Barry,” she says, trying to look reassuring. “I’d rather stand.”

“Okay,” he responds, settling himself on the edge of a table. When she struggles to find the words to explain how she feels, Barry starts to fill the silence, “So, is this a bad ‘can we talk’? I mean, not that there’s a good ‘can we talk’, but is it, like, bad in a life-or-death sort of way or a relationship sort of way?”

“Relationship,” she says automatically. “Not bad,” she adds quickly, when his face drops, “I mean, not really. I just…” And then the words start spilling out of her mouth, how the more versions of them she sees in other relationships leave her feeling more confused, wondering what she should be doing, what _they_ should be doing. “I _want_ to be with you,” she tells him with certainty, making sure she meets his eyes for that. “More than I have wanted to be with anyone else. But don’t you ever wonder that if…if we were really _meant_ to be together then we would be from the same Earth?”

“Says the girl from Krypton,” he quips, his face twisting immediately after as he knows it’s not the right response.

“Barry.”

“I know – I know what you mean. Look, it sucks that we’re not from the same universe. That I can’t just text you something funny Cisco said or…surprise you,” he looks out the window at that with a wry smile before meeting her eyes again. “Kara, I don’t like jumping through so many hoops just to see you either, but I like seeing you enough that it’s worth it for me. I thought you felt the same.”

“I do,” she says, automatic and genuine. “It’s just…sometimes it feels like a lot.”

“I know going to the other universes can mess with your head, _believe me_ , but I don’t believe people are destined to be together. I mean, if anything, what you said confirms they're not.”

Kara moves to perch next to Barry on the work table before asking, “How do you mean?”

“Well, if there was just one person for both of us then wouldn’t you keep seeing us with the same person instead of different ones?” Kara is still considering this when Barry adds, “Plus, pretty much all our doppelgangers you’ve seen in relationships, you said they all looked happy, right?”

“Yeah.” 

“So, good for them, they’re happy. I want to be happy too. That just means something different for you and me than it does for them.” He takes her hands in his when he continues, “I think we’ve both been shaped by the universes we’ve lived in, and the choices we've made. And, I, Barry Allen of this universe, choose to be with you, Kara Danvers.”

Her lips twitch with the beginning of a smile. “Even though I’m only on Earth-5.”

“Whatever Earth you’re on is the Earth I want to be…on.” Barry’s face falls a little when the line he’d been aiming for doesn’t quite land. “I mean, the Earth where you are, is the Earth where I am,” he tries again. “In my heart,” he adds for clarity, before realizing that was unnecessary and making another attempt, “When you’re on an Earth –“

“You’re so cheesy,” Kara interrupts, attempting a stern face, but unable to keep her grin from spreading before she lets out a giggle.

Barry beams at her, all boyish charm. “But cute, right?”

Kara shakes her head, and leans forward to kiss him, though they’re both smiling too much for it to be a proper kiss. Instead, Kara tilts her head to pepper light kisses across Barry’s face as he pulls her closer so she’s perched comfortably on his lap before meeting her lips once more in a soft, slow kiss.

When she pulls back just enough to look at him Barry reaches up to adjust her glasses as Kara asks, “So where was that last line going anyway?”

“I honestly have no idea,” Barry admits.

Kara laughs, playing with the ends of his hair. “Can my Earth become Earth-2 at least?”

Barry gives her a tight-lipped smile. “I want to say yes…”

“You want to?” Kara prompts.

“I have to run it by Cisco first.”

“Barry!”

“I’m sorry, but you know how seriously Cisco takes naming things!”

 

Kara can’t stay long, having lost time with her detour, but is in a much better mood on saying goodbye to Barry than she was she’d arrived. Although, she is a little curious about his cryptic parting words when he’d suggested he’d left her some sort of message. She can’t figure out where, doesn’t even know where to begin to look, so she attends to her usual tasks as normal. She almost forgets about it until she’s checking her emails before bed and spots an unusual email address. She hasn’t seen it before, but the word ‘flash’ stops her from assuming it’s spam. She opens it and is greeted to the sight of pictures of her and Barry. Kara recognizes them as the selfies he took the previous time they were together on his Earth, goofing around in the park after the outdoor play they went to see with Iris and Linda.

She scrolls further down, which reveals his message:

_“Tried to surprise you, but I guess we both had the same idea?! – Sorry I haven’t seen you this week, was dealing with some crazy metahumans! But we’re sorted now so I guess we should try to come up with a new schedule!?_

_Do you like the pictures? James let me borrow his computer so I could upload them from my phone – turns out USB ports are the same size on both our Earths! – and create an email address to send you this. Don’t be mad if you see him before you read this and he doesn’t mention it, I asked him not to tell you! You can reply to me on this email address. – I know I can only check it when I’m on your Earth but I thought it might be nice, as a way we could leave each other messages. – Or maybe it’s really lame since we’ll be in the same place when I’m writing my replies? It’s lame, isn’t it???!_

_Well, at least you’ve got the pics now!_

_I’d better be going now anyway, but promise I’ll see you soon!”_

Kara smiles at his sweet message and sign off with his finger clearly pressed down on the ‘x’ key for far too long, before glancing back up to the pictures. Only one turned out the way they’d intended; both of them with their faces pressed close, grinning at the camera. The rest were a mess, technically speaking, bits of their faces missing, their gazes every which way – but these were the ones Kara liked best.

There isn’t a picture of Barry staring longingly at her, the way another James had looked at that other Kara, the way the actor in the play that day had gazed at his love interest. But Kara finds she has something better. The joy captured on her own face, the smile in her eyes in the one where she’s looking at Barry – they remind her of the happiness she felt when she was with him, something she’d felt again today. A happiness that was real and good and happened to _her_ ; not some other girl in another universe.

 

And that’s what makes it easy for Kara in the end, to stop worrying about what all their doubles in the multiverse are doing. 

 

Still, she’d be lying if she said it didn’t make her smile the first time she finds another Earth where she sees a different Kara Danvers and Barry Allen together.

(Kara doesn’t tell Barry about it though, for his own good. – She knew he’d be really jealous if he found out there was a Barry Allen somewhere that could fly.)


End file.
